Hi guys! I’m an ED 1 student for 2021, so I’ve already been though this process and through these questions. If anyone has anything they need, I also have the link to the facebook group so you can message me. All the financial aid is still estimated, nothing will be finalized until end of March/April. Message me if you have any questions!
No @OKPCree … don’t be disappointed with yourself. MANY applicants are qualified but not admitted; they just don’t have the space. It’s not a personal referendum. Keep your chin up.
Plus SMU is great - several of you mentioned it, and as an FYI, no one calls it ‘Southern Methodist’, it’s SMU 
I won’t be attending Bryn Mawr and I’m sure there are others who won’t as well who were accepted, so I’m sure some on the waitlist will get in 
In response to @Biogirl1998’s reply directly above: Bryn Mawr takes historic yield into account in deciding how many to admit. In other words, @Biogirl1998, they already know that you and a bunch of other admitted students won’t attend.
The data on number of acceptances off the waitlist is provided above in a prior post (repasted below). It was zero the past two years. Just want those waitlisted to have realistic expectations:
For anyone else waitlisted, here’s how many people were admitted in past years according to their Common Data Sets (https://www.brynmawr.edu/institutionalresearch/common-data-set-cds)
2016-17: 0/444
2015-16: 0/427
2014-15: 33/351
2013-14: 22/333
2012-13: 5/415
2011-12: 7/352
2010-11: 21/392
2009-10: 39/213
2008-9: 7/174
2007-8: 20/200
It seems like a waitlist is more of a soft rejection to me (especially considering the past two years), but there’s always a chance! They may have a lower yield this year.
To all those on the wait list: Don’t give up! The wait list isn’t ranked. That means that when they pull from the wait list, they don’t just go to a “first” person on the list. Such a person doesn’t exist! Write your regional admissions person/an admissions person in the BMC admissions office with updates, and let them know that you’re still interested!
I’ve been waitlisted. Any suggestions for trying to get off the waitlist? My act score is 29 composite and my gpa is 93.20. I had several different curricular activities and a job but not a lot of volunteer work. Any advice as to how I could try and get off waitlist I’m from New York State
Same! I have been wait listed by Bryn mawr, Barnard, and smith but accepted to mount Holyoke
@samhall The social scene is really whatever you want it to be, but because we’re a small school it can also be a bit limited. There’s a lot of diverse and interesting people on campus to meet, but everyone knows everyone who knows everyone… yeah. You can be introverted and not overwhelmed, but if you’re extroverted it won’t necessarily be bored. You do see a lot of the same people routinely, but it doesn’t feel like high school because you still don’t know everyone directly. It’s not that hard to meet men as a Bryn Mawr student, if you’re trying. Our partnership with Haverford is actually really tight so it’s not at all uncommon to join Bi-College clubs, take classes at the other school, go to Haverford parties/events, etc. Our relationship with Swarthmore is much more limited, same with UPenn. Villanova is also in the area, but not many of us interact with them. So, our social life can overlap with a lot of other schools’ social lives and people here often date people at the other schools. BMC itself can occasionally be socially isolating, but I think the nature of our traditions gives us a very welcoming sense of community.
@iz57c4 I called it “Southern Methodist” instead of SMU because I live near Saint Martin’s University, which everyone locally automatically associated with “SMU” so I instinctively refrained from saying “SMU” lol.
And Thank you
you too @PlasticNebula
I decided to place myself on the waitlist (with a brief letter of interest), hoping for a miracle tbh. Does anyone know Bryn Mawr’s standing with adding more supplemental material like another reference or a resumé? I took a gap year and I think tangible material of my year would be good to send in, but I don’t want to annoy the admissions people. I know some colleges hate that lol
@OKPCree , I don’t know about BMC in particular, but most schools are okay with an additional item if it adds something to the application. So if someone from your gap year program wants to write about something you’ve done that wasn’t in your application (maybe something recent), that’s helpful. You want to give the committee a reason to think “if we’d known this about her, we probably would have accepted her”, and then feel happy that they can!
I don’t know if anyone on this thread is current BMC (or Haverford), but my daughter got into both (Presidential Scholarship at BMC). With Haverford’s modest need-based aid, it’s $14K more the first year than BMC. That makes BMC much more attractive even though she really liked Haverford and never visited BMC. Now she plans to go to Bryn Mawr in Focus in April to help her make a decision. It will be BMC vs. Scripps vs. a less expensive UC. She’s not 100% decided on a major, but she is interested in going to medical school to become a psychiatrist.
But here’s a question: what’s up with this? https://ehgazette.blogs.brynmawr.edu/2011/01/08/the-snobs-vs-the-weirdos/
This is from six years ago, but does this still reflect the prevailing attitudes? That would be terrible.
@BobShaw Eh, not really. There’s a negative general stereotype about Haverford men (“Haverbros”) and I imagine there’s also a “weird” stereotype for Bryn Mawr students. Most people don’t fit these stereotypes. Beyond that, people from Bryn Mawr and Haverford get along pretty well. The amount of interaction varies from person to person (based on how many classes you take at either school, how many bi-college clubs you’re in, etc.), but I know lots of people who have friends at Haverford. I haven’t gone over there much myself. The schools kinda try to force the interaction at the beginning of freshman year, though, which makes things awkward initially.
In general, I don’t think that article accurately reflects current attitudes.
@amoeba666 - Thank you, I am relieved to hear that. It seems kind of silly. I also can’t understand this country’s strange attitudes towards all-women’s colleges. In many countries like India, it’s perfectly normal to go to single-sex schools and colleges. They are commonplace (both genders). Not something politicized and stereotyped. My D doesn’t care either way as long as there are men around to make friends with, and a supportive, collaborative, warm and friendly community with excellent academics and opportunities for leadership growth.
@BobShaw I’m from CA and my daughter is now a first year at BMC. Last year she was deciding between BMC & Scripps. Please feel free to message me if I can offer any insight.
@arc918 I’d love to hear about your D’s choice of BMC over Scripps. In the end, what was the deciding factor, do you think? My D was accepted at Scripps, Bryn Mawr, Smith, Mount Holyoke and Barnard. She loves certain things about each one.
We start with us living ~ 45 minutes from Claremont and her desire to be on the east coast. I had to twist her arm to get her to apply any schools here in CA. We made her pick one safety school in So Cal (not Scripps) just in case she needed to be closer to home for some reason.
She loved Philly, once she visit BMC for admitted students weekend, she was all in. There was a little bit of concern over whether or not she’d find “her people” and she did (she’s somewhat of a more conservative capitalist).
@smcirish those are some great choices your daughter has!
I personally think BMC has a great mix of everything you could ask for. Philly is as close or far as you want it to be. Great academics in a supportive environment. Plenty of social opportunities with other consortium schools (or not if you aren’t interested).
@hopefulmom123 I’m not really familiar with the other schools you mentioned, but I guess I can speak a little bit about BMC, in terms of the majors your daughter is interested in. I came in intending to major in political science and minor in French. After exploring my options more thoroughly, I’m now leaning more towards a double major in international studies and French (your daughter may be interested in the former, which combines elements of poli sci, economics, ethics, and cultural studies). International studies is a pretty new program, which is partly why I’m sticking to the awesome, well-respected French program as well. The political science department here has a reputation for having good professors, but also for being disorganized. I’ve heard lots of mixed reviews. This semester, I’m taking one class in the philosophy department and one in the history department. Both have awesome professors and have given me great impressions, although I don’t intend to major in either. I’ve heard good things about the psychology department as well.
One important thing to note, that has been my biggest frustration with BMC, is the kind of limited options in terms of majors. We have 40-something options, but bigger colleges have more, and even though the college is like “you don’t need to decide a major yet!!!”, you really need to have taken at least a few courses your freshman year that count towards a major. You can also create an independent major (it’s a looooot of work though). A lot of people here also tend to double major or complete one or two minors.
Hi there, newly admitted students and parents of students! I’m a current student who chose Bryn Mawr over many of the colleges listed above. I think that it’s hard to characterize a college, and feel that many articles out there at Bryn Mawr don’t necessarily characterize a student’s experience. No one can truly describe the relationship between Haverford and Bryn Mawr, for instance. It just…life happens. You can describe the relationships between over a thousand students at one college and over a thousand students at another, definitively. I’d be happy to talk about my experience and decision, but do not check these forums. Feel free to PM me, though. (And trust me, I’m not going to just try to sell Bryn Mawr. After a few years, I do not regret my decision to come to Bryn Mawr. Overall, I really like it, and am glad I chose it. But there have been frustrations, and I realize that it may not be the best choice for everyone.)
@amoeba666, Can you clarify what you mean about the poli science professors being good but the poli science dept having a reputation for being somewhat disorganized ? disorganized in what way, or what kind of things reportedly have occurred that gives it the reputation of being somewhat disorganized ?
@splokey in talking with other students, the two comments I hear most about the poli sci department are either very good praise of certain faculty and classes or “meh.” Since I’m not a poli sci major and I’ve only taken one course with them (and it was taught by a visiting professor), I’m not sure exactly why people see the department this way. It might just be that poli sci really isn’t for everyone and that people have had inconsistent experiences because of that. It’s not a field that has clear answers or solutions, which can be frustrating for some people. Anyway, there are no specific events that I know of that explain it.